Speed control mechanism for rolled strip material



July 1, 1969 w. L. INGRAM 3,452,944

SPEED CONTROL MECHANISM FOR ROLLED STRIP MATERIAL Filed Oct. so, 1967Sheet of 2 5 f I I 30 25/ 29 I I IcouNTER \&

PROGRAMER 26 8 I Q FIG.I I

3| TIMER RELAY W m INSULATED RELAY ROLLER CONTROL\32 PANELELECTROMAGNETIC PICKUP 28 9 3 l2 POT. WIPER ARM SPRING BIASED DRUMROTARY -P0TENT|0METER FIG, 2

JERROMAGNETIC 22 BLADES /L .I A 23 I6 INVENTOR WILLIAM L. INGRAM July 1,1969, w. L. INGRAM 3,452,944

SPEED CONTROL MECHANISM FOR ROLLED STRIP MATERIAL Filed Oct. 50. 1967 ISheet 2 of 2 i STOP T F DE LU UJ Y I L J 3|2 38 f I ow g I I I 38-1 I J3l-3 I L 1 1 I MEDIUM 39 I 40-l 47 I I, T 49 l HIGH RESET 4O I I A? 4o-2L COUNTER -29 FIG. 3

INVENTOR WILLIAM L. INGRAM United States Patent 3,452,944 SPEED CONTROLMECHANISM FOR ROLLED STRIP MATERIAL William L. Ingram, Rte. 2, Box 84,Hebron, Ind. 46341 Filed Oct. 30, 1967, Ser. No. 678,848 Int. Cl. B25h23/06 US. Cl. 24275.4 7 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE Thisdisclosure describes a speed control mechanism for controlling theuncoiling of rolled strip material from an uncoiling machine. The speedcontrol mechanism includes a cylinder and piston arrangement mountedadjacent to the uncoiler machine. The piston includes a roller means forcoming in contact with the sheet of material as it is being uncoiled. Inaddition, transducer means are connected to the piston to sense thelocation of the roller and to generate signals related to the piston ofthe roller. The transducer signals are utilized by a control to controlthe rate of uncoiling of the sheet material.

This invention relates to speed control mechanisms; more particularly,to speed control mechanisms of the electro-mechanical type; still moreparticulraly, to a speed control mechanism especially adapted to detectthe approaching end of the roll of material to which this mechanism isconnected, and to automatically reduce the speed of the unwinding of thematerial and to stop the unwinding mechanism.

It is the principal object of this invention to provide a speed controlmechanism for rolled strip material that will automatically slow downthe uncoiler as the coil of strip material is diminished in diameter,and eventually stop the machine when the coil of material has beencompletely unrolled.

Another object of this invention is to provide a speed control mechanismfor rolled strip material that can be adapted to control the speed ofuncoiling of a rolled strip material uncoiler.

Another object of this invention is to provide a speed control mechanismfor rolled strip material that is so constructed that the device can bemanually operated at any desired time.

Still another object of this invention is to provide a speed controlmechanism for rolled strip material, the mechanism having a minimumnumber of parts, thereby reducing the time required to adjust and, ifnecessary, repair or replace any of its details.

With these objects in view, and others that will no doubt occur to thoseskilled in the art, and which will become apparent hereinafter, themechanism is herein illustrated in a somewhat diagrammatic form thatwill be understood by those having knowledge of the electrical arts whencombined with mechanical devices.

In the accompanying drawings:

FIG. 1 is a partial sectional view of a typical coil unloader and adiagrammatic view of the electrical components of the invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagrammatic view of the two transducers of this invention.

"ice

FIG. 3 is a wiring diagram of the control circuits.

In the several views of the accompanying drawings, like parts of thisinvention are indicated by like reference numbers.

FIGURE 1 illustrates a vertically disposed air cylinder 5 that is partof an uncoiling machine on whose mandrel is placed a coil of stripmaterial 6 that is to be unrolled by the strip material passing over thetop of a flexing roller 7 and between pulling rollers 8 and 9. A housing10, located on top of the air cylinder 5, receives compressed air via anair intake pipe 11 from any desired source. The housing 10 allows thecompressed air to enter the top of the air cylinder 5. A second housing12 covers an air tight chamber 13 (FIGURE 2) in which is located ahorizontally disposed rotatable shaft 14 that is supported by a stand 15which extends air tightly into the chamber 13. The stand 15 is supportedin turn by a horizontally disposed base 16. One end of the shaft 14 isprovided wth a plurality of radially disposed blades 17. The peripheryof each blade passes a stationary magnetic pick-up 18 when the shaft 14revolves. The manner of construction just described results in anelectromagnetic transducer whose output wire is indicated in theaccompanying drawings by the reference number 28. A rotary potentiometer20 is suitably attached to the outer end of the aforesaid blades 17,which may be called turbine blades, so that the wiper of thepotentiometer mover when the turbine blades rotate. Looking now at theopposite end of the horizontally disposed shaft 14, it is seen that aspring biased drum 21 is mounted on that end of the shaft. An insulatedelectrical conducting cable 22 has one end wound around the drum andsecured thereto while the other end of the cable 22 extends verticallydownward through an air tight grommet 23 mounted in an opening in thelower and horizontally disposed surface of the air tight chamber 13. Theother end'of the insulated cable 22 passes on downward (FIGURE 1)through the center of a piston 24 and its supporting member 25 which maybe said to be equivalent to a piston rod and terminates by beingsuitably connected to a spring-loaded insulated roller 26 which restsagainst the upper surface of the strip of material as the material isbeing uncoiled. The insulated roller 26 is insulated from the uncoilingmachine housing while being in electrical contact with the roll 6 ofmaterial to be uncoiled. The lower end of the aforesaid supportingmember 25 is suitably secured to a back-up roller 27 forming a part ofthis invention.

It will be seen from FIGURE 1 that output wire 28 leads from thestationary magnetic pick-up 18 to a counter 29 which is part of a cardprogrammer 30. The counter 29 is also connected to a timer 31 which inturn is connected to both a relay control panel 32 and a relay 33. Therelay 33 is also connected to the top of the rotary potentiometer 20 viawire 19.

Having now described in some detail the electrical andelectro-mechanical par-ts of this invention, with the exception of thewiring diagram of the control relay panel illustrated in FIGURE 3, theactual method of oper-' ation of this novel invention will be stated.However, before doing so, it is herein stated that since the wiringdiagram of the aforesaid control relay panel is of a type that will beknown to those experienced in the electrical arts upon their examinationof FIGURE 3 of the accompanying drawings, few of the detailed parts ofthe control panel are described in this specification nor indicated byreference numbers in the accompanying drawings. More specifically, onlythose electrical elements necessary for an understanding of theoperation of the invention are illustrated in FIGURE 3 and hereinafterdescribed.

Method of operation The coil of strip material 6 that is to be uncoiledis placed on the horizontally disposed mandrel 34 that is connected to adrag generator 41 through a gear box 43. After the coil 6 of stripmaterial has been placed on the mandrel 34, and the free end of thestrip is threaded between the two pulling rollers 8 and 9 and theuncoiler is activated in the usual manner that is known to thoseexperienced in the art, the initial unwinding of the coil of stripmaterial starts at a relatively slow speed which accelerates as thediameter of the coil decreases. The regulated pressure of the airentering the top of the air cylinder through the air intake pipe 11,moves the piston 24 downward as the coil unwinds, thereby causing themember 25 (piston rod) to move downward thus continuously pressing theback-up rollers 27 against a processing roller 35 which in turn pressesdown against the strip material as it is being uncoiled. This sameaction of the member 25 also causes the insulated roller 26 to pressdownward against the strip of material as has already been previouslyexplained in this specification.

The object of this invention is to control the slow down and stopping ofthe roll of strip material by using the already described transducers,located on top of the vertically disposed air cylinder 5, to generatesignals representing the position of the piston 24 and its associatedparts with respect to the uncoiler mandrel. The counter 29 is preset bythe operator of the uncoiler, the setting depending on the gauge of thematerial to be uncoiled. Or, the presetting can automatically be done bymeans of the aforesaid card programmer 30, if desired. In operation,when the rotary potentiometer transducer 20 reaches a low resistance,the relay 33 is energized and closes contact 36 in the DE circuit. Theelectromagnetic transducer, which is in effect the aforesaid magneticpick-up 18, sends out electrical pulses to the aforesaid counter 29. Atthe predetermined time, established by the operator or the automaticcard programmer 30, the counter 29 energizes the timer 31. Timer 31times in and closes the normally open contact 31-2 in the low speedcircuit and open the normally closed contacts 31-1 and 31-3 in the stop,medium, and high speed circuit that is indicated by the referencenumbers DE, 38, 39, and 40, respectively, in FIGURE 3 of theaccompanying drawings. The uncoiler is now operating at low speed andcontinues to do until the coil of material has completely unwound, leftthe mandrel 34, and thereby lost contact with the insulated roller 26.At this time an open circuit situation occurs because the roller is nolonger grounded through the strip of material and the delay timer dropsout, opening the contact 331 in the stop circuit DE and thus stoppingthe uncoiler from further operation. Normally closed contacts 332 in therelay 33 close and recycle the counter 29. The unwinding mechanism canbe stopped at any time by opening manual stop switch 37. Similarly, low,medium and high speed operation of the uncoiler can be manually achievedby operating the low, medium and high speed manual switches 45, 47, and49, respectively. Air pressure is then applied to the bottom of theaforesaid cylinder 5 in the usual manner and the piston 24 is forcedupward to its extreme vertical position. The uncoiler is then ready toreceive another coil of strip material and the electric circuit is readyto repeat the operation of the uncoiler.

From the foregoing, it is seen that I have herein provided a speedcontrol mechanism for roller strip material that fulfills all of theobjects of this invention and others'such as the ability of thisinvention to be adapted to uncoilers of Wire and other strand-likematerial.

What I now claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

1. A rolled strip material uncoiler including a speed control mechanismcomprising:

a strip uncoiler including a mandrel having disposed thereon a coil ofstrip material to be uncoiled, the inner end of said mendrel adapted forconnection to a drag generator through a gear box;

an air cylinder mounted on said strip uncoiler, said air cylinderincluding a piston attached by a rod to a roller, said roller attachedso as to come in contact with a strip of material to be uncoiled andremain in contact due to air pressure against said piston;

an electromagnetic transducer mounted adjacent said air cylinder so asto sense the movement of said piston, rod, and roller;

a linear transducer mounted adjacent said air cylinder to sense whensaid piston, rod, and roller are in a predetermined position; and,

a control connected to said electromagnetic and linear transducers, toreceive signals therefrom, and to said strip uncoiler to slow down saiduncoiler when said material nears being unrolled and stop said uncoilerwhen the coil of material becomes unrolled.

2. A rolled strip material uncoiler as claimed in claim 1 including:

a timer having its input connected to the output of said electromagnetictransducer; and

a relay connected to said timer to be operated by said timer said relayhaving contacts connected in the circuit of said linear transducer.

3. -A rolled strip material uncoiler as claimed in claim 2 including acounter connected between said electromagnetic transducer and said timerso as to count pulses generated by said electromagnetic transducer andapply a signal to said timer after a predetermined number of pulses havebeen counted.

4. A rolled strip material uncoiler as claimed in claim 3 including acontrol relay panel connected to said timer and to said strip materialuncoiler to control the slowing down and stopping of the uncoiler.

5. A rolled strip material uncoiler as claimed in claim 4 wherein:

said strip uncoiler includes a pair of vertically disposed and spacedpulling rollers for pulling said strip of material from said coil;

said roller rests on top of a strip material at a point located betweensaid coil and said pair of pulling rollers;

said roller is secured to the lower end of said rod and said rod isvertically disposed inside of said air cylinder; and

a backup roller forming a portion of said uncoiler is included, saidbackup roller being connected to said rod and pressing against saidmaterial at a point prior to said roller.

6. A rolled strip material uncoiler as claimed in claim 5 including acable adapted to mechanically and electrically connect saidelectromagnetic and linear transducers to said insulated roller.

7. A rolled strip material uncoiler as claimed in claim 6 including:

an air tight chamber secured on the upper end of said air cylinder;

a rotatable horizontally disposed shaft mounted in said air tightchamber;

a drum secured to one end of said shaft and connected to said cable sothat said drum rotates as said cable moves;

an air tight grommet mounted in said air tight chamber radially disposedblades mounted on said shaft and a magnetic pickup mounted adjacent theperiphery of said blades, said magnetic pickup being connected to saidcounter; and

said linear transducer comprises a rotary potentiometer having its shaftconnected to said horizontally disposed rotatable shaft.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS Wheelbarger 24275.4 Michel 24275.4 Carter 24275.4 Fitzgerald et a1. 24275.4 X Drenning 24275.4

